Amazon has partnered with a number of Asian compact camera module makers for advanced sensors that could allow 3D gesture and eye tracking input on a new smartphone launching next year, AppleInsider has been told.

People familiar with the company's plans, who have accurately shared information on Amazon's future products in the past, indicated that Amazon is apparently planning to launch its new smartphone in the second quarter of 2014. The device is expected to include an array of sensors that will allow entirely new input methods.

Amazon's rumored flagship smartphone is said to include a total of six compact camera modules. Four of them are reportedly VGA cameras, located at the four corners of the device, that will allow for 3D gesture and eye tracking.

Sources indicated the device will include another two, more traditional forward and rear facing cameras for picture and video capturing. The rear facing lens is said to be a 13-megapixel camera, while the forward facing one will reportedly be 12 megapixels.The latest rumors suggest Amazon may compete with Apple's iPhone by offering smartphone users entirely new ways to control their device.

Amazon is said to have partnered with three key compact camera module (CCM) makers for all six anticipated lenses: Primax, Liteon, and Sunny Optical. Primax is expected to be the major component supplier for Amazon's rumored device, with more than a 50 percent market share.

Many of the details provided are consistent with rumors that surfaced earlier this month about a so-called "Project Smith" said to be in the works at Amazon. It's been reported that Amazon will release a premium flagship handset with 3D sensing capabilities, as well as a more budget-minded entry-level device.

But a source who spoke with AppleInsider went a few steps further, revealing details about the components included inside the device, including the six aforementioned camera lenses. In addition, the device is said to include a 4.7-inch touch panel, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor.

The camera lenses alone in the new device are said to cost Amazon about $40, which would be a significant investment for the company. As a result, this person said the handset with 3D gesture input and eye tracking is likely to be a premium smartphone.

That would place Amazon in direct competition with Apple's iPhone, which currently leads the way in the high-end smartphone market with its iPhone 5s. 3D gesture and eye tracking would also help differentiate Amazon's rumored handset from existing smartphones on the market, which rely largely on touchscreen input with some limited voice controls.

Amazon has become an increasingly larger competitor to Apple in recent years, squaring off with iTunes in digital content sales and even with the iPad via its Kindle Fire line of touchscreen tablets. But to date, Amazon has not released its own smartphone model, despite longstanding rumors.

But that may change in the first half of 2014, if the latest claims from sources bear out. It's said that suppliers working with Amazon are planning to build anywhere from 5 million to 10 million units in the second quarter.

“Amazon shares plummeted yesterday after the launch of their first smartphone. Customers, unaware of the new ‘Blink To Buy’ feature, found themselves making hundreds of purchases in the course of simply using their phone for tasks unrelated to purchasing. Cited also in this problem were the rotating banner ads, visible on every screen of the device, as part of its subsidy program.”

Yeah, RUMORS of an Amizon phone coming at some unannounced time in the future and their stock goes up... Actual sales of Apple iPhones in the tens of millions at 37% margins and Apple's stock goes down... Makes sense???

"That (the) world is moving so quickly that iOS is already amongst the older mobile operating systems in active development today." — The Verge

Can someone explain how any of this sells content or a subscription to Amazon Prime? Seems to me this is about impressing the tech press and tech geeks even though none of them would ever buy an Amazon phone because it doesn't run stock Android.

Wow! Awesome!!! If this rumor is true then we'll have the ability to make all different kinds of faces to tell the phone what to do!

Imagine, if you will:

Let's say you're controlling the music player: Scrunch your face if you don't like the music track -- then the player skips to the next track. Unfortunately if you happen to inadvertently smell someone else's fart and make the same face you'll move to the next track by mistake and ruin your music-listening experience. (Note that the Amazon instructions remind you that it's easy to keep a straight face if/when you smell your own farts.)

Make a "surprised face" with your mouth closed if you want to discover new music tracks. Make the same surprised face but with your mouth open if you want to discover new apps.

Grimace (the same face you'd make with with a difficult bowel movement) and then use your right index finger to make a pig nose... and that blacklists a caller.

Yes, this is exactly what we've all been asking for. 3D gestures to control... a phone.

A further increase in revenue and a further postponement of profitability.

A great strategy and why Amazon continues to do well.

Say you had $70 billion in revenue with expenses of $50 billion leaving you with $20 billion on hand....

1) Declare $20 billion in profits:

Be honest and get taxed @$7billion leaving you with $13 billion. What next?

a) invest 13 billion in the company (this would make no sense given you already accepted paying taxes)

b) give it back to shareholders

c) throw it in the bank

Be sneaky and offshore and get taxed @$1 billion leaving you with $19 billion on paper

a) throw it in the bank

b) fight off the company owners as they say "if you're not going to do anything with our money, give it back to us"

or.....

If you have confidence in your ability to continue growing your company and make even *more* revenue...

2) Simply reinvest the entire $20 billion back into your company as an expense

a) pay no taxes. You made "no profits" (that is why 1a above makes no sense... if you are going to reinvest it, do it *before* you are taxed on it and reinvest $20bil instead of $13bil).

b) grow like crazy

As long as your market is large enough that it continues to let you grow, there is no reason to take profits.

Apple could similarly have avoided taxes on much of their profits if they chose to reinvest in themselves. Imagine if they had spent that $100 billion plus building semiconductor fabs in the US, building more data centers, hiring better engineers to focus on a more reliable cloud, hired more testers to avoid bugs....

Maybe that would have been a better use of the money, or maybe it would not have. Apples leaders felt it is better to take the profits and have them floating around in a bank account off an Irish subsidiary that is based literally out of 'limbo.' Amazon could do the same but instead chooses to target $0 profits and reinvest in itself with the belief that the market can sustain its reinvestment. That's risky- it provides both a higher probability of growth and a much greater risk of failure.

So it boils down to both Apple and Amazon doing very well. One is being a little more conservative and is guaranteed 'something,' the other is taking more risk with the hopes of higher gains. Wall Street will be good to either method as long as they always deliver 'more'

Amazon is the real threat to Apple, not Samesung or Google. Sammy and G don't have everybody's credit card numbers - Amazon does. Google's hardware (via Motorola) is perpetually D.O.A., while Sammy doesn't get software and will be forever dependent on Google for Android.

Amazon on the other hand has already forked Android successfully, and their hardware is doing great (for the price). They'll have no trouble displacing Samsung and Google in the increasingly commoditized smartphone market.

I'm not sure what will happen when Amazon completely cuts Google out of its forked-Android phones. I am sure that Android will go down in history as a classic example of a company being hoisted by its own petard.